Description: As the rest of the nation is embroiled in the Civil War, the Amana Colonies have remained at peace—until now. Amalie Wiese arrives in the newly built village of Amana in 1863 only to find that her fiancé, Friedrich, has left to fight with the Union army. Amalie fears for his safety even as she struggles with his decision to abandon the colony’s peace-loving beliefs. She hopes that working alongside Friedrich’s best friend will provide some comfort, but Matthias is abrupt and cold. When Matthias himself leaves for the battlefront to deliver supplies to the soldiers, war rages in Amalie’s own heart. Will love claim victory? My Review: I have yet to find a Melanie Dobson...
Becoming a better blogger…a better writer
What sort of time commitment have you put into your dream? Master blogger Seth Godin was asked how he got to be so good at blogging. He replied, “I wrote a thousand blogs.” Malcolm Gladwell in “Outliers” states it takes ten years, or 10,000 hours, to truly master a craft or attain expert level. Most writers have worked around ten years to get their first book published. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but what are you doing in your own journey? Are you planning on getting around to that practice or are you down in the trenches? I’ve been spending too much time away from the...
Story Behind the Story: Anne Mateer
My grandmother was a born storyteller, the kind that could spin a tale and keep you enthralled from beginning to end. But her tales didn’t come from a tangle of imagination. They came from her life. I didn’t appreciate this as much as I should have as a child or a young adult, but when Nanny passed away in January of 2000, one of her stories took hold of me and wouldn’t let go. It was the story of her mother, a young woman with four small children left at home while her husband fought The Great War. As the war drew to an end, the influenza epidemic hit,...
My adventures from the wild, blue yonder (conference)
The classes, the keynotes, the breaks, the meals – everything was filled with an energy and creativity that spread like wildfire. I had a great time attending Susan May Warren’s Coaching Class about the internal journey of a character. More to come in an upcoming blog.
Going paperless, getting organized, starting anew. Sort of.
I’ve made the leap (attemping, more like it) to go as paperless as possible. This is coming from a chronic to-do-listaholic. Really, this is epic. For notes/digital to do lists: Michael Hyatt has posted over and over again about the program Evernote. So I thought I’d give it a shot. Really, Michael Hyatt has never steered me wrong. 🙂 And boy, do I LOVE Evernote already. This syncs notes/articles/photos/everything between your computer, Android, iPhone, iPad and beyond. They have a Mac and a PC version. It is free – you have a data “allowance” for each month but unless you’re doing an outrageous amount of note taking, you should be...